Milady de Winter is a villain in The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. She’s a seductress, a spy, and a murderer. However, history is written by the victors–by men–and Milady’s story is much, much different than the one you might know. This book recounts her life from her early days being raised by her mother in the countryside to her confrontations with the musketeers.

I really enjoyed this book, but with a sort of caveat. It was at its strongest when exploring Milady–or Clarice’s, as she’s called in this book–past. She was a very interesting character and all her training was fascinating. I loved reading about her early days, her introduction to court, and all that followed.

Where the book was weak was when it dealt with the events of The Three Musketeers. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t read that book in years or the author was just too vague as to what was going on, but I found it a little hard to follow. I didn’t know where Milady was half the time or why she was there. It starts after she and d’Artagnan meet, but doesn’t explain how or when they did. I guess I’m supposed to be familiar enough with the story to just remember, but I honestly feel like this book should have been clear enough on that without me having to reread another book to get this one. It should stand on its own. So, all the Milady/musketeer scenes irritated me and dragged down the book. I will, however, say that the ending was brilliantly done and almost made up for all that irritation.

Overall, this was a fast-paced book full of intrigue and training montages of a sort. It satisfactorily explained the past of a character who I’ve wondered about, and expanded on the history of other characters. I’m glad I got approved for this ARC and look forward to reading it again in the future.